The Los Angeles Lakers went into this season with high hopes. After locking up some of their younger players like Austin Reaves, Rui Hachimura, and Jarred Vanderbilt to multi-year contracts, many ‘pundits’ considered the Lakers to have won the offseason. However, they won just one game in the postseason. Although they won the inaugural In-Season Tournament, the team struggled right after and were behind the eight-ball simply trying to get into the playoffs right up to the end of the regular season.
Seeing their demise this early in the playoffs is surely a disappointment from top to bottom. Jeanie Buss and Rob Pelinka have to start to look in the mirror and decide when they need to pivot from riding the coattails of their aging superstars. The reality is most teams in the West have gotten better. The Lakers won four more games than last year (47), but were still stuck in the same No. 7 spot in the West.
Let’s take a look at the 2024 offseason for the Los Angeles Lakers.